Imagine being in the midst of plants, nature, working to make a staircase in the ancient mountain that would take future tourists to visit the sacred lagoon, and suddenly breaking a clay vessel full of artifacts, figures made of gold. You proceed to clean them, amazed, and find this marvel: a detailed miniature; the Muisca offering raft. This is what the guide told us on our walking tour of the city, as we entered our second stop at the Bogotá Gold Museum. So before we could ask the guide about this figure, she told us in a loud and enveloping voice: all the townspeople, common people and those of different statuses, were there, all surrounding the great lagoon; ready to offer what was sacred to them, the figures that had been forged with their own hands, containing the essence of the goldsmith and the energy of the sun; waiting for the precise moment of dawn. So now imagine, the guide asked us. At a higher point in the lagoon, the entire Zipazgo (a group of people) were gathered, watching the ceremony with the wise elders. The chosen one, the one who would become leader, was on that raft that floated gently to the center of the lagoon. He, the seed of life, covered in gold dust and surrounded by all the unique offerings, waited for that exact moment when his body would shine with the light of immaculate energy to enter and fertilize the life-creating water. About three times, according to the stories, he would enter and leave the cold water that had bathed others before him, leaving everything that covered him, all that was material and imperfect in his being, in this rebirth, and thus become the new leader of the Muisca people. The flutes, drums, ocarinas, and rattles sounded as each person made their offering. Imagine then that goldsmith, the best of the confederation, who had made his masterpiece in the gold and copper alloy they called tumbaga. He didn’t view this with greed, nor did he create it as an ornament or symbol of social status, as it might be for any of our present-day cultures. No, this was an offering to the gods; a people’s sole request that their leader be this enlightened being who would guide them in their daily lives; caring together for these magnificent lands that are now Colombia. These lands where we now walk and that are full of stories; stories that endure from 14,000 BC, with the first hunters and gatherers who inhabited Cundinamarca; to what we will discover today on this city tour of Bogotá.

By Fredy Calderón